Past, Present, and Future
by iheartgaympreg
Summary: Gibbs was enjoying a lazy day in the office when a memory walked in, a person he had spent 4 years trying to forget. Gibbs/OC, Mature Content, I do NOT own NCIS and I am not trying to copy anyone.
1. Chapter 1

**First off, I do not own any characters except my own. Second, I came up with this idea out of the blue, I do not mean to copy anyone. I will admit that I got some idea from the movie/book, My Sister's Keeper, but I made it into my own. I adore NCIS but I don't have cable anymore so I'm sorry if I fudged up any details. Let me know what you think and if I should further it. :)**

It was a rather boring day at the NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not one case had been submitted to Gibbs and his team which had left them to entertain themselves with fictional work. Tony was leaning back in his chair, throwing paper balls at McGee's head, while the nerd, himself, played some kind of online dragon hunting game. Ziva smirked at the immature nature of her fellow teammate. Having found herself amused by the current scene before her, she had left her previous engagement of filing paperwork forgotten and settled for watching the scene before her. Gibbs rolled his eyes at his team. Sipping his black coffee, he glanced at the clock on his desk and wondered if anything would happen today, at all.

None too soon, Jethro Gibbs choked on his thoughts. A petite woman, in her early twenties, entered their floor and was immediately ambushed by DiNozzo. The familiar, long, white-blonde hair was tucked behind her right ear allowing the room to have glimpse of her big, bright blue eyes.

"Is there anything _I_ can help you with?" Tony flirted with the girl, without a care in the world. Ziva shook her dark head at the usual player attitude the senior agent displayed.

The young lady grimaced at the question. "I need to talk to Leroy Gibbs, please." And that was when Gibbs did something the team had never seen him do before: _He Gasped._

(From This Point Forward the OC Will be the one speaking.)

"It's been four years," Leroy stood outside the building where he worked, looking pointedly at me. "Four, long years without a single word from you and, suddenly, out of the blue, you come bursting into my office, asking me for my sperm." I felt my stomach sink, thinking back to the earlier scene in which I stormed up to his desk and blurted out the first thing on my mind. "I think an explanation is in store, Brooke."

_An explanation? _I thought, angrily. _He breaks my heart, wait, no, he destroys my heart. Rips it out of my chest, throws it on the ground, and stomps on it, and, yet, he has the guts to ask for an explanation? _I was about to tell him where he could shove his _explanation_ when I remembered the reason for why I was here in the fist place. Elliot. If it weren't for him, I would never face this man again. Closing my eyes, I sucked in my pride, and addressed the man I have loved for my entire life. "You're right. Four years is a really long time which means this explanation you require is also really long."

He glanced at the old watch on his wrist, the same one he wore when I first met him. I shook my head, ridding myself of the past. "I have all the time in the world."

"Then," I sighed, "we better find somewhere to sit down."

Sitting at the café Jethro had taken me to, I sipped on my pomegranate iced tea and begun my story. "Four years ago, I was deeply in love with a man,"_ and still am , "that was still smitten with his dead wife." He raised silver-grey (gray) eyebrow. "So in love that I was willing to let myself get hurt over him leaving me, which I knew would happen eventually, to seek his own happiness. But what I didn't have in mind was what he would leave me with." I looked the man, old enough to be my father, in the eye. "I was pregnant, Leroy." The lock of shock on his aged face was expected. "Nine months later, I gave birth to a seemingly healthy baby boy, Elliot Jackson. But not even a year later, he grew very sick. I did what any mother would do, I blamed you. What I thought was Pneumonia turned into Kidney failure which then became something else entirely." Leroy reached out and grasped my hand. "He has Leukemia, Jethro. My baby boy may not live to see his fourth birthday and I can't even donate my own blood to him since I'm not a match. Which is why I came here." _

"_You want my sperm so you can do one of those test tube babies?" I nodded, glad he got the point. Tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear, I prepared myself for the rejection I was sure would follow that question. "Okay."_

_My mouth dropped. "Okay?"_

"_Okay. When and where?" I dug through my Save The Children tote bag and handed him the doctor's business card. _

"_He is the one helping Elliot and me. Best in the state." I wiped at my eyes to keep the tears from free-falling._

_The man I never stopped loving stared me in the eye, his light blues questioning. "And what are you going to do with this second child?" before I could answer the first question, he placed another one before me. "I hope you know I plan on being in my children's lives now, right?"_

"_I'm going to love this new child just as I love Elliot. He's been asking for a brother or sister for a while now. I just hope he lasts until I give birth so we can give him the umbilical cord blood. Jethro, he is so much like you." I scratched my head, blushing at the sudden thought of him being the lives of my kids, the life of Elliot. "Of course, I wouldn't expect you to walk away after finding out about Elliot's existence and especially not after asking for you to donate your sperm." I was still angry with him but I had to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. _

_We both got up from the table to leave. "One more question, Brooke."_

"_Yes?" _

"_Why me?" I gaped. _

"_To be honest, Leroy, I'm not to willing to have a stranger's baby." As I got into my car, I said the thing that had been playing in my head since the day he left me. "I want my children to be from the one I love, the one I dream of." and with that said, I drove off, leaving Leroy Jethro Gibbs awestruck on the sidewalk in front of some café. _


	2. Chapter 2

**No one's POV**

Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood outside, in front of his favorite café, watching the last woman he ever truly loved drive off, her last words echoing in his graying mind. _I want my children to be from the one I love, the one I dream of. _Scratching his head, he wondered why she had said that to him. Of course he understood what she meant by it but the reasoning behind those words would pester him until their next meeting.

Brooklyn Marie Long. The woman had haunted Jethro's dreams for the last four years. He stepped closer to the busy street and signaled a cab back to the NCIS headquarters. Getting into the public vehicle, Gibbs silently went back in time to the memories he had done his best to forget.

_Four years ago_, Jethro had been desperate to replace the aching in his heart for the loved ones he had lost. Shannon, Kelly, Kate, and now, Jen too. His soul was hanging on by strings and all he wanted to do was: _forget. _To make matters worse, when Jethro had planned to hop a plane to Mexico where he could drown his sorrows in tequila and foreign women, he found himself headed towards Stillwater, Pennsylvania, the last destination he had in mind.

Stillwater was just as Gibbs had remembered it, small and cozy. At first, he just drove his truck around the town, circling it over and over again, until his gas tank was nearly empty. Seeing the meter fall towards the E, Jethro made a U-turn and pulled into the gas station that had been there before any of his teammates were born. He slowly got out of his car, as if he were being held back by some unseen force, and walked into the small snack shop.

Inside, there were few changes and Gibbs found himself sighing with reassurance. It was as if he never left this sleepy, little town. Grabbing a bottle of water and some potato chips, he walked up to the cash register.

"I need sixty bucks worth of gas on three." Gibbs recited, placing the items on the counter. The cashier said a quick "uh huh" and began ringing up the water and chips.

"That'll be seventy-one and ninety-three, please." Jethro paused, wallet in hand. Finally looking at the woman manning the register, he felt shock run through his body. "Sir?"

Swallowing hard, the older man pulled out a few twenties and handed them to the one person he thought he would never see again. "Here you go, Brookie." The girl looked him in the eye, familiarity passing through her beautiful stare.

"Jethro."

Hours later, they were both sitting in his pick-up, talking about the past. Gibbs had opened up to the girl, who had followed him around like a lost puppy dog in his late high school day. He finally felt at peace with the sorrow in his life. He let his head fall from the steering wheel, that he had been clutching since the end of Brooklyn's shift, and gently collide with hers.

"I've missed you, Jeth." The girl tucked a loose strand of her long, silky hair behind her ear and flashed that breath-taking grin his way. "How long has it been?"

The man glanced at the girl who was now a woman and found the nerve to hold her fragile hand in his. "About twenty years." he squeezed her hand, gently. "You've grown, Brookie. How old are you now? The last time I saw you, you were this tiny little toddler clinging to my pant legs, begging me to bring you to school with me."

A deep blush appeared on her cheeks. "Almost twenty-three." She frowned, jokingly. "And I was not begging, I was giving you a proposition."

"A proposition, eh?" Gibbs turned so that he was facing the gorgeous blonde. "Sounds interesting."

Brooke scooted closer to the man she had never forgotten. "I have another proposition, Jethro."

He leaned toward her, whispering even though they were all alone. "And what would that be?"

"There's only one way to find out."

And the rest was history, or so the quote goes. They had made love several times. Jethro spent almost a year with Brooke, never wanting to let her go, but he knew that other people relied on him. His team kept drowning him with calls and he finally realized that he was needed there as much as was with the girl he was falling hard for. So one morning, he packed up his bags while she was sleeping and quietly left, leaving a note where he thought she would find it: In her wallet.

The cab pulled up in front of his office building, forcing him to leave the memories behind. Gibbs paid the driver and returned to work, hoping that Tony had forgotten all about the beautiful woman he whisked away.

**Brooke's POV**

The sight of Jethro's confused face played over and over again in my mind, causing me to chuckle. Of all the faces that man had shown me, his confused one was by far my favorite. I parked in the visiting lot of the Children's Hospital and exited my Jeep Liberty. Grabbing the purse that I have had for almost five years now, I locked my car and walked into the building that has become my second home.

Smiling, I greeted the daytime nurses as I passed them on my way to the second floor, the cancer ward. Every day, it was the same thing: Work, Visit Elliot, Sleep, Wake up, Visit Elliot, Work, Repeat. It was tiresome but having one more day with my baby was worth it. I jabbed the button to go up one more level and leaned against the elevator wall. Honestly, seeing Jethro again was a bit nerve-wracking. My heart still pounded, unnecessarily, for him.

The elevator stopped and opened to reveal visitors waiting to get on. I stepped out and allowed the shaken people to get in. _There was a death._ I wasn't surprised. A death occurred everyday, here. I just crossed my fingers that I wouldn't have to be one of those mothers who lost their son to cancer, like the one who just brushed by me.

I shook my head, to empty it of those depressing thoughts, and followed the sick patients and busy nurses until I found the room I was looking for: _213. I pushed the door open and smiled at the bright, little boy sitting upright in bed. _

"_Hi, mommy!" the four-year-old brunette exclaimed in a raspy voice, a sign that he had been puking again. The radiation treatment was hurting him more than it was helping. _

_I plastered a smile on my face to hide the worry. "Hey, baby." I dropped my bag on the chair next to his bed and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "How was your day? Defeat any villians? Jump on the moon? Eat you veggies?" _

_Elliot giggled and shook his curly, mahogany head. "Nope, mommy." he then frowned. "I didn't get to jump on the moon." I laughed at the statement and set about tickling the little booger. _

"_Well then we must change that." I declared and picked him up from the bed, being extra careful of the bandages on his arms. I lifted the toddler into the air and spun him about the room. My son laughed and laughed with excitement, causing me to grin, widely. _

_My arms grew tired and I set him back in the bed and tucked the quilt I had bought him as a baby around his tiny body. "How was that? Better than jumping on the moon?" _

_He nodded, enthusiastically. "Much better, mommy." Elliot then yawned. I began to hum, watching his eyes slowly close, carrying him off to a world where cancer didn't exist and four-year-old boys could actually jump on the moon. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Brooke's Pov**

Soon after my little boy drifted off to dream land, I had to head into work. It wasn't my choice to leave Stillwater, the town I grew up in, but being a first-time mother with a sick child was hard and we needed a hospital that specializes in Leukemia, not to mention somewhere where I could find a good job to earn money for my small family. Washington, D.C., wasn't the closest state but, according Jackson, Jethro's father, it was where his son had gone to work after leaving the Marines. So I packed up my son and I, got into my junker Station Wagon, and drove in the direction of hope.

Not too long after arriving in Washington, Elliot and I had made the Children's hospital his temporary residence and I landed two jobs: Waitress at some restaurant and Secretary at NCIS.

The first job was what I expected to get stuck with when I decided to come here in the first place. It was a morning shift and I earned a measly wage along with rare tips but every little cent counted.

The second job came as a surprise to me. Jethro had no clue I was out here with a son he didn't know existed and I planned to keep it that way. Luckily for me, it was night shift and the Agency Director, Leon Vance, assured me that Leroy Gibbs would be home by the time I had to go in for work. My pride told me to decline the offer but my heart accepted it. I needed the money, desperately, for my ailing child to get the treatment he needed.

After visiting the tiny apartment, that I rented nearby the hospital, to eat a little something and ready myself for work, I was on my way to the headquarters. Thoughts of the conversation I had earlier that day with Jethro raced around in my mind. It was a shock that he had agreed to donating his sperm for my second child. The baby that would save his/her big brother.

All my life, Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been like a big brother to me. I was born when he was a sophomore in high school and three-years-old when he graduated high school. Even at that young age, I knew what my feelings for my "big brother" were and I clung tightly to the man, trying to keep him from falling in love with someone who wasn't me.

After Leroy graduated, he joined the Marines which wasn't a shock to anyone in Stillwater. He always wanted a job where he could help people and do something that mattered. With his position, he was able to both. I felt my hold on Jethro slipping, especially after he met her.

Before leaving on his first mission, Jethro got down on one knee and proposed to Shannon. I was heart broken, even though I was still Elementary School Student. My first love was snatched away from me and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

When they were married, a year later, I was a bridesmaid, much to Shannon's dismay. Leroy had begged for me to be in the wedding, since I was his precious "little sister". Months later, they were expecting their first child and I had to give up any hope I had for Jethro to soon notice me, at the time I was holding the fantasy that any six-year-old would get after watching Cinderella for the first time.

Kelly was born on my seventh birthday. I had to admit defeat to the tiny, pink bundle that Jethro held tightly in his arms. She was adorable. Although I was still young, my "big brother" knelt down and looked me in the eye, asking me how I would feel if he named me her Godmother. No words described the happiness I felt. I glanced at the sleeping infant and back at Leroy. Nodding, I placed a kiss on Kelly's cheek. After that, the happy family moved to California, where Jethro was stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Eight years later, the tragedy occurred. Jethro was off overseas. He never got to say goodbye. Shannon had witnessed something she shouldn't have and in return she and Kelly were murdered. When I heard the news, I died inside. The baby that I had come to love through letters and postcards was gone. I didn't even feel the joy that I thought I would at Jethro's newfound single life. I was shattered which was better off than how the man I loved was doing.

He stayed in Stillwater for a few months but the damage was done. I tried to break through to him, like so many others before me. Jackson had confided that he thought that I may be the only one to do so. He was so broken.

One night I sat down beside him on the couch in his father's living room. I let my hand fall to his leg and my head rest on his shoulder. There was nothing I could say but I thought maybe some warmth would do him so good. Jethro breathed deeply and said the last words he would say before leaving for a long time.

"I'm going to make that bastard pay."

That sentence still holds a place in my heart. I glance at the picture of Kelly taped to my windshield, right below the picture of Elliot. She was the spitting image of Jethro. I smiled, knowing that her murderer received the punishment he deserved because that man wouldn't rest until he, himself, delivered it. That little girl would have been so happy to know she has a little brother.

I parked my car in front of the tall building and got out. Smoothing my tan skirt, I walked into the office, unaware of what was waiting for me inside.

**No one's Pov**

Gibbs sat at his desk, knowing he was free to leave whenever he wanted, with a picture of Shannon and Kelly in front of him. They were his world. His everything. He felt like he had betrayed them, marrying three more times and now the father of a illegitimate child. A sick little boy. Pain squeezed his heart. Jethro had promised himself those years ago that if he ever had kid again, he would be there for them one hundred percent.

_How could Brooke keep this from me?_ he thought to himself, dragging his hands through his buzz cut. _she, of all people, knows how much family means to me. _

_He sat back and looked at the three empty desks before him. His team had left before him, like always. Gibbs stood up and made his way to the one person who rarely left this building, Ducky. If anyone could shed some light on this situation it was Dr. Mallard. _


End file.
